National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2008

Two Division III member institutions are changing their names, one effective immediately and the other later this summer.

Villa Julie, which competes in the Capital Athletic Conference, has changed its name to Stevenson University, and Tri-State, a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, will become Trine University August 1.

In Stevenson’s case, the name pays homage both to the location of one of its Maryland campuses and to its founder, while Trine is honoring longtime supporters of the Indiana school.

The decision at Stevenson follows approval recently by the Maryland Higher Education Commission of university status for the school, which maintains its original campus in Stevenson as well as a campus in Owings Mills. The school’s founder, Henry Stevenson, was a prominent Baltimore grain merchant who married Deborah Owings, granddaughter of the founder of the Owings Mill.

“After careful study and discussion over the past three years, the board felt the time was right for a name which better reflects the makeup of the institution,” said Kevin G. Byrnes, chair of the university’s board of trustees.

The school will preserve its original name through one of its main components, the Villa Julie College of Arts and Sciences, which will be located on the campus in Stevenson.

“We understand the importance and history of the Villa Julie name and are pleased it will remain as a major part of Stevenson University,” Byrnes said.

Stevenson officials believe the new name better reflects the growth in the institution’s student population, expansion to two campuses and addition of graduate-level programs.

At Trine, the name change resulted from a recommendation that the school’s current moniker is ambiguous -- in part because numerous businesses also are named Tri-State and also because it obscures the fact that the institution is private.

In deciding to change the name, the school’s board of trustees agreed the new name should recognize the family of 1961 graduate Ralph Trine and his wife, Sheri, whose businesses employ numerous graduates of the university’s business and engineering schools.

Enrollment recently has been increasing at the school, located near the Michigan state line in northeastern Indiana, and the school is following a $90 million master plan to enhance the campus and its programs, technology and faculty.